社會和國際化接軌，在生活中無論是學習還是事業上，取英文名字都越來越普遍常見，許多人認為英文名字既洋氣時尚，也能助運發展。在美版知乎Quora上，美國網友提問道：為什麼許多中國人取英文名字時，要保留中文姓氏？這引起各國網友的圍觀和熱議，我們看看他們的觀點。
問題
中國網友Viktor Hu的回答
Many Chinese choose English names for themselves so that Westerners （more specifically， English speaking Westerners） can pronounce them more easily。 Because if we paint real names like Wang Ming and Zhao Hong You can‘t understand。 Even if we write our names in pinyin， you English speakers will never bother to learn how to pronounce。 You always make mistakes or forget how to pronounce。 We need to teach you every time。
許多中國人為自己選擇英文名字，以便西方人（更具體地說，說英語的西方人）更容易發音。因為如果我們寫真名，就像王明，趙紅….你根本看不懂。即使我們用拼音寫我們的名字，你們這些說英語的人根本就不會費心學習如何發音，你總是發音錯誤，或者忘記如何發音，我們每次都需要教你。
In other words， the vast majority of Chinese choose English names out of courtesy to your English speakers。 When we try to communicate with you and do business with you， we will try our best to make your work easier。 You should all accept it with gratitude， instead of thinking that we should have done this， or that the Chinese did it because we didn’t like our names。
換言之，絕大多數中國人選擇英文名字是出於對你們說英語的人的禮貌。當我們試圖與您溝通，與您做生意時，我們會盡力讓您的工作更輕鬆。你們都應該帶著感激之情接受它，而不是認為我們本就應該這樣做，或者中國人這樣做是因為我們不喜歡自己的名字。
Why do we keep our last name？ Because most Chinese surnames are single words and easier to pronounce， we think these Westerners can certainly learn how to pronounce “Wang， Chen or Zhao” surnames。 Because the name is very important， it is our first label。 We really hope to keep the integrity of the name when it is romanized。 Because surnames transcend ourselves， they represent our connection with our families， and changing surnames has a significant impact on people‘s identities。
我們為什麼保留姓氏？因為大多數中國人的姓氏都是單字，而且更容易發音，我們認為這些西方人肯定可以學習如何發音“王、陳或趙”這些姓氏。因為名字很重要，它是我們的第一個標籤，我們真的希望在姓名羅馬化時保持名字的完整性。因為姓氏超越了我們自己，它代表了我們與家庭的聯絡，而改變姓氏對人們的身份有重大影響。
So， the next time you see a Chinese （or any other person from a non English speaking country whose name is obviously Anglo Saxon）， you should be a little grateful and respectful， because they must show you a lot of respect。
所以，下次當你看到一箇中國人（或者任何其他來自非英語國家但名字明顯是盎格魯-撒克遜名字的人）時，要有一點感激和尊重，因為他們肯定對你表示了很多尊重。
海外網友山姆•卡爾蒂克的回答
This is actually a very interesting question。 If we carefully observe the global Chinese community in the past 100 years， we can better understand why Chinese people usually prefer to communicate with foreigners using English names plus Chinese surnames， no matter where they come from。
這實際上是一個非常有趣的問題。如果我們仔細觀察過去100年來全球華人社群，我們可以更好地瞭解為什麼中國人通常更喜歡使用英文名加上中文姓之類的名字與外國人交流，無論他/她來自何方。
Let me make it clear： Wong is not a Chinese family name， it is just a way of spelling English （Cantonese romanization system）， so that non Chinese people can pronounce the real Chinese family name wang。 We can also spell it as “wang” in the phonetic system。 In most cases， this can be used to judge whether the person is from the mainland。 Peter is added in front of Wang to ensure that non Chinese people can easily communicate with him， whether his real name is Wang Wangcai or Wang Laifu To some people， this sounds much better than their own Chinese names。
我先說清楚一點：Wong不是一箇中國姓氏，它只是一種英文拼寫方式（粵語羅馬化系統），讓非中國人發音類似於真實的中文姓氏wang，我們也可以在拼音系統中把它拼寫成“王”，在大多數情況下，這可以用來判斷這個人是否來自大陸。在王的前面加上彼得是為了確保和非中國人可以輕鬆地與他交流，無論他的真名是王旺財或王來福. 對一些人來說，這聽起來比他們自己的中文名字要好得多。
Nowadays， if people in Chinese Mainland work in foreign companies， have business dealings with foreigners， or even have business dealings with Chinese people from Hong Kong / Taiwan， China / Singapore / Malaysia， they are more likely to use English names。 These names may come from their primary/middle school English teachers， or they may be completely fabricated。 Sometimes， these names do not have universal significance as “names”， such as Apple Zhang， Liu Orange， Gu Gechen， Wang Fei， Zhao Xiaotu， Happy Zhu。。。 No Chinese people will really take these names seriously， because they know they are just code names， not as meaningful as their Chinese names。
如今，如果中國大陸的人在外國公司工作，與外國人有業務往來，甚至與來自中國香港/中國臺灣/新加坡/馬來西亞的中國人有業務往來的話，他們更可能使用英文名稱。這些名字可能來自他們的小學/中學英語老師，也可能完全是他們編造的。有時，這些名字作為“名字”並不具有普遍意義，比如蘋果張、柳橙、谷歌陳、王飛、趙小兔、快樂朱……沒有中國人會真正認真對待這些名字，因為他們知道這些只是代號，不像他們的中文名那樣有深厚的意涵。
The use of English names in foreign countries will hide your Chinese identity to some extent， and the preservation of surnames can avoid this。
在外國使用英文名會在某種程度上隱藏你中國人的身份，而姓氏的儲存可以避免這一點。
Take Jimmy Locke， Mr。 Locke’s father， for example。 His real name is Luo Rongshuo。 When he was born in a small town in Guangdong Province， China， he had no English name。 When he was 13 years old， he and his family came to the United States。 All registration documents must be in English， including his name。 Later， he spelled his name Youh K。 Locke。
以駱家輝先生的父親吉米·洛克為例，他的真名是駱榮碩.。當他出生在中國廣東省的一個小鎮時，他沒有英文名字。13歲時，他和家人來到美國，所有登記檔案都必須使用英語，包括姓名，後來他把自己的名字拼寫為Youh K.Locke。
Later， he studied in a high school in Seattle， and then joined the United States Army as a staff sergeant （chef）。 He fought in Normandy and many other battlefields。 But his English is still poor。 People don‘t want to talk to him， and then they simply change his name to James， which makes him fully integrated into American culture。 We don’t know whether he chose the name of James voluntarily or was just assigned the name， but this is the official document signed by James for the rest of his life。
再後來，他在西雅圖的一所中學就讀，然後加入美國陸軍，成為一名上士（廚師），他在諾曼底和許多其他戰場上戰鬥。但是他的英語還是很差，人們不願意和他說話，然後乾脆把名字改成了詹姆斯，這讓他徹底融入了美國文化，我們不知道他是自願選擇詹姆斯這個名字，還是隻是被分配了這個名字，但這是他後來餘生的官方檔案裡都是簽署的詹姆斯。
印度尼西亞網友阿爾文的回答
I don‘t know whether Chinese people all over the world are like this， but Chinese people in Indonesia may have their reasons：
我不知道是否世界各地的中國人都是這樣的，但在印度尼西亞中國人可能有他們的理由：
1。 Indonesia once prohibited the use of Chinese names， and even formally stipulated the obligation of Indonesian Chinese to change their names。 In order to retain their surnames， Indonesian Chinese usually change their names to Indonesian/Western/fictitious names， which are vaguely similar to their Chinese surnames。 Therefore， surnames like “Pek” become “Putih”， “Ang” become “Angka”， “Lim” become “Salim”， “Tan” become “Tanu”， etc。
1.印尼曾禁止使用中文名稱，甚至還有一種正式規定印尼華人更改姓名的義務。為了保留自己的姓氏，印尼華人通常會將自己的名字改為印尼/西方/虛構的名字，這些名字與他們的中文姓氏模糊相似。因此，像“Pek”這樣的姓氏變成“Putih”，“Ang”變成“Angka”，“Lim”變成“Salim”，“Tan”變成“Tanu”，等等。
2。 It is prohibited to learn and speak Chinese。 Therefore， the second and third generations of Indonesian Chinese cannot give their children Chinese names。 In any case， you cannot name them in a language you do not understand。
2.禁止學習和說漢語。因此，第二代和第三代印尼華人不能給自己的孩子起中文名字，無論如何，你不可能用你不懂的語言來命名。
3。 It is prohibited to celebrate and embrace Chinese culture。 In Indonesia， people are required to have religious beliefs， but you can’t say that you only accept sacrifices to Chinese ancestors， because this is prohibited。 Therefore， Indonesian Chinese usually adopt Buddhism and use Buddhist/Sanskrit names， such as “Dharma”， “Ratna”， “Yoda” and “Kusuma”， or they use Christian names and Baptist/Western names， such as “Charles”， “John” and “Maria”。
3.禁止慶祝和擁抱中國文化。在印度尼西亞，人們被要求有宗教信仰，但你不能說你只接受祭祀中國祖先，因為這是被禁止的。因此，印度尼西亞華人通常採用佛教，並使用佛教/梵語名稱，如“達摩”、“拉特納”、“尤達”、“庫蘇馬”，或者他們採用基督教名稱，使用浸信會/西方名稱，如：“查爾斯”、“約翰”、“瑪麗亞”。
4。 Recently， these prohibitions have been abolished and are no longer valid。 But what has been done is irreversible。 Therefore， if you see that Indonesian Chinese use non Chinese names， this is evidence of racial discrimination against Chinese。
4.最近，這些禁令被廢除了，不再有效。但木已成舟，後果無法挽回。所以，如果你看到印尼華人使用非中文名字，這是對華人種族歧視政策的證明。
美國網友韋恩的回答
I have taught English to Chinese students。 They tend to use what they call “English names” to promote communication with foreigners。 People often think that foreigners may encounter difficulties in Chinese pronunciation。 You should notice that when Chinese people mention their English names， they refer to the names they use when speaking English， not necessarily English names。 Most people use names that are known by English users， but names in other languages are also common， such as Japanese， French， etc。
我教過中國學生英語。他們傾向於採用他們稱之為“英文名”的方式來促進與外國人的交流，人們經常覺得外國人可能會在中文發音方面遇到困難。你應該注意到，當中國人提到他們的英文名字時，他們指的是他們在說英語時使用的名字，而不一定是英文名，大多數人使用的名字都是英語使用者知道的，但其他語言的名字也很常見，比如日語、法語等。
There are some interesting stories about Chinese people using English names。 One of them didn‘t stay long in our school。 Although I only taught her once， her story left a deep impression on me。 The protagonist in my novella Social Murder was named after her。 When I saw the name Merlin on the agenda that day， I naturally thought it was a man。 Although considering that Chinese names often have no gender distinction， it may be a thoughtless assumption in hindsight。
有一些關於中國人使用英文名字的有趣故事。有一個在我們學校待的時間不長，雖然我只教過她一次，但她的故事給我留下了深刻的印象，我的中篇小說《社會謀殺》中的主角就是以她的名字命名的。當我那天在日程上看到梅林這個名字時，我自然而然地認為這是一個男人，儘管考慮到中文名字往往沒有性別區分，事後看來，這可能是一個輕率的假設。
She explained that she chose Merlin because it was close to her real name。 I like this kind of acceptance， obedience and strange Chinese combination。 It seems that she has reluctantly accepted the convention of choosing western names when speaking English， but she will not deviate from her true Chinese identity！
她解釋說，她選擇梅林是因為它接近她的真名梅林。我喜歡這種接受、服從和奇怪的中國組合，似乎她已經勉強接受了在說英語時選擇西方名字的慣例，但她不會偏離自己真正的中國身份！
Another student of mine， too， simply transliterated his Chinese name into English。 His surname was Wang， which simply translated into King。 If he stepped into Britain and introduced himself as “Wang”， it would bring him some social difficulties。 In addition， the course I taught him was business English， so he obviously hoped to have international exchanges。
我的另一個學生也是如此，簡單地把他的中文名字音譯成英文，他姓王，簡單翻譯成了King，如果他踏進英國，介紹自己為“王”會給他帶來一些社會困難。此外，我教他的課程是商務英語，因此他顯然希望能夠進行國際交流。
Less common names are also popular among Chinese students。 We occasionally hear the seasonal names “summer” and “autumn” used by women （especially in the United States）。 Chinese people often use them。 I also know a man named “winter”。 The strangest example I remember was a guy who wanted a name that no one else had。 He named himself “bike”， and he was not wrong。 Until today， I have never met anyone else calling a bike！ I also met women called crayons and penguins， which is very interesting。
不太常見的名字也受到中國學生的歡迎。我們偶爾聽到女性（特別是在美國）使用的季節性名稱“夏天”和“秋天”，中國人經常使用，我也認識一個叫“冬天”的男人。我記得的最古怪的例子是一個傢伙，他特別想要一個別人都沒有的名字，給自己起了個名字叫“bike”，而且他沒有錯，直到今天，我還從未遇到過其他人叫腳踏車！我也遇到過叫蠟筆和企鵝的女人，挺有意思的。
However， generally speaking， most people use common western names。 Men tend to choose traditional and popular names， such as Chris， Daniel， David， Michael， Peter， etc； Relatively speaking， few people deviate from the correct name。 Women’s choices are often more diverse and can be divided into several distinct groups：
不過，一般來說，大多數人都使用普通的西方名字。男性傾向於選擇傳統流行的名字，如克里斯、丹尼爾、大衛、邁克爾、彼得等；相對而言，很少有人偏離正名。婦女的選擇往往更加多樣化，可分為幾個截然不同的群體：
• English names that are no longer popular in the English world， such as Christine， Doris， Ivy， Joyce， Monica， Nancy， Veronica and Vivian。 I often wonder if these names were given to my old friend Kathy， who was older and divorced from reality， in his childhood， because these names rarely reflect the true character of these people。
•在英語世界不再流行的英文名字，如克里斯汀、多麗絲、艾薇、喬伊斯、莫妮卡、南希、維羅妮卡和維維安。我經常想知道這些是不是像我的老朋友凱西這樣年紀較大、脫離實際的老師在童年時給他們起的，因為這些名字很少反映這些人的真實性格。
• Names more common in non English languages， such as Anya， Freya， Mia， Mira， Nadia and Yolanda。
•在非英語語言中更常見的名稱，如安雅、弗雷亞、米婭、米拉、納迪亞和約蘭達。
• Names similar to Asian names and/or words， such as Eva， Fay， Lily， Lin， Lucy， Sue， Suki and Sun。
•與亞洲名字和/或單詞類似的名字，如伊娃、費伊、莉莉、林、露西、蘇、蘇基和孫。
The above list is not exhaustive， but if you know how many Chinese “English” names are， you will understand。
上面的列表並非詳盡無遺，但如果你瞭解中國人的“英文”名字有多多樣，你就會明白。
Back to the original problem， when they adopted western names， the Chinese did not westernize themselves。 We sometimes have a habit of thinking that the views and attitudes of Chinese people are very traditional。 This may be because China， as a whole， has made great efforts to emphasize its traditional Chinese identity， but Chinese people are much more modern than we think。 They are more sensible about the wider world than you expect。 Chinese people are very proud of their personal identity， and their family relationships are very strong， Therefore， a Mr。 Huang will never call himself Mr。 Smith to adapt to foreign life。
回到原來的問題，當他們採用西方名字時，中國人並沒有將自己西化。我們有時有一種習慣，認為中國人的觀點和態度非常傳統，這可能是因為中國作為一個整體，非常努力地強調其傳統的中國身份，但中國人比我們認為的現代得多，對更廣泛的世界的方式比你所期望的更明智，中國人對他們的個人身份非常自豪，他們的家庭關係非常牢固，所以一個黃先生永遠不會為了適應國外生活而自稱史密斯先生。
Basically， the English names of Chinese people are very similar to the nicknames used by many people in close friend groups。 The only difference is that Chinese “English” names are not used for strict informal and social occasions， but are specifically used to communicate with the wider non Chinese world。
基本上，中國人的英文名字與許多人在親密朋友群中使用的暱稱非常相似，唯一的區別是，中文“英文”名字不是用於嚴格的非正式和社交場合，而是專門用於與更廣泛的非中文世界交流。
I used to think that Chinese people used different names to speak English so easily， while similar oriental cultures， such as Japan， South Korea， Vietnam， rarely did this except when they actually lived in another country， especially when they were born or grew up in another country； But for the Chinese， using different names is part of learning English。
我曾經認為，中國人如此輕易地採用不同的名字來說英語，而類似的東方文化，如日本、韓國、越南等，除了在另一個國家實際生活，尤其是在另一國家出生或長大時很少這樣做；但對中國人來說，採用不同的名字是學習英語的一部分。
However， when you get to know the Chinese people， you will realize that there is almost no obligation to choose to abide by this custom， which is usually a form of self-expression； A way to establish your identity。 Most Chinese people‘s real names， like other people’s names， are partly chosen according to their parents‘ preferences， and partly to ensure that the child can integrate into the society he or she will grow up in - anywhere in the world。
然而，當你瞭解中國人時，你會意識到，選擇遵守這一習俗幾乎沒有義務，這通常是一種自我表達的形式；一種建立自己身份的方法。大多數中國人的真名，就像其他人的名字一樣，部分是根據父母的偏好選擇的，部分是為了確保孩子能夠融入他或她將要成長的社會-在世界任何地方。
Most Chinese choose an English name that reflects how they want the world to see them； The Chinese are far from the timid and submissive Asians in popular western folklore。 They are a nation with a proud heritage， which constitutes a large part of their personal identity， but they are not restricted by tradition。 As a nation， the Chinese people are full of confidence in their position in the world。
大多數中國人選擇一個反映他們希望世界如何看待他們的英文名字；中國人遠非西方流行民間傳說中的膽怯、屈服的亞洲人。他們是一個擁有極為自豪的遺產的民族，這些遺產構成了他們個人身份的很大一部分，但他們不受傳統的限制。作為一個民族，中國人對自己在世界上的地位充滿信心。
Finally， I like young students to use a name that is easier for them to teach foreign idiots how to pronounce。 When you consider how arrogant Westerners are to other cultures， it has a poetic sense of justice！
最後，我很喜歡年輕學生採用一個更容易讓他們教外國白痴如何發音的名字，當你考慮到西方人如何傲慢得對待其他文化時，這有一種詩意的正義感！